My stomach still hurts this morning so I’m having a pu-erh which is supposedly known for its’ stomach soothing properties. This is one my boyfriend picked up in London. Rest assured it looks like most other mini touchas you have seen and it appears to be a shu.

I steeped this for around 3 minutes in the western style this morning. It is very dark, earthy and brothy now. I might try to do this one day with shorter infusions. It has a lot of camphor in it which makes me wonder. I hear often times it is put there artifically with shus. It does obscure the taste of the tea a bit for me. I am not a huge fan of the camphor.

Yes- people do make mini tuocha sheng. Rishi has one that quite a metallic/dry kick in the teeth for me, but I’m spoiled, so there you go. I also have a bunch of sheng tuocha’s (not mini) from China that I’m aging that are very juicy and yummy- so the form of the leaves is always indicator of quality.

I haven’t heard of people putting camphor flavor in artificially. Most of the time, I’ve come across it in bricks (disclaimer.. I am terrible at tasting camphor, but my husband is a fiend for it.. “zhang” flavor in Chinese). I think naturally it often comes from wild-picked leaves that are grown near cedars/pines and other evergreens.

While I’d agree that the form of the leaves is not always an indicator of quality, I think in the case of a mini tuocha specifically, if one is talking about sheng, it is unlikely that you’re looking at a high quality pu-erh. There’s just too much surface area to allow a sheng to age at a slow enough rate.

@ Amy – My husband’s stomach was hurting last night, too, so I made him shu pu’er with a healthy pinch of cinnamon bark and a dash of mint/spearmint. If you’re still feeling unwell, I recommend it.. it’s a nice grounding mix, and the mint helps lift things up and keep the shu from being too heavy to be helpful.

@Jim – Interesting thought about surface area / volume ratios for aging. What benefits do you get by having your shengs age very slowly? I feel actually the opposite. Not by artificially aging them or anything crazy. Many of my favorite bricks are loosely compacted, which actually allows more airflow and seems to help them age faster. It might explain why some of my three and four year old bricks are already drinkable, and taste more like they are 6-8 rs old. I also break up my bricks once I’m about a quarter through and keep them in jars or canisters (with a cloth between the lid and the body to allow airflow). This keeps it better protected than the wrappers when all those pointy edges are created, and also helps it age a tiny bit faster.
But then again, I’ve never been a huge fan of early, rambunctious sheng flavors (dryness and overly metallic were never my things)- I gravitate towards shengs that have mellowed. If you like the grassy astringency (my Japanese green fanatics do), then a slower aging would certainly be beneficial.

Hmm.. this aging discussion might need it’s own thread to keep from completely hijacking Amy’s own note! Amy- have you tried any shu’s from Garret at Mandala? I’ve found he prefers a maltier, breakfast pastry, sweet and caramelly kind of taste from his shu.. especially his old tea nuggets. You might like them if you’re not a fan of camphor.

As I always say, aging in your house and “aged” pu-erh which has undergone oxidation and fermentation are not the same thing. All I’m trying to say is that it seems unlikely that a tea which can oxidize and ferment very rapidly (because of a high surface area to volume ratio, like a mini tuocha) is going to result in a high quality product. The whole reason shu was developed was because it takes a long time to make good sheng. Maybe I’m completely wrong about all this, but as I understand the processing, speed is not something you want when producing sheng — regardless of how rapidly a consumer may want secondary aging to occur at home (which is more like keeping wine in your basement and has nothing to do with how long the wine was aged in the barrels at the vintner).

Yes- people do make mini tuocha sheng. Rishi has one that quite a metallic/dry kick in the teeth for me, but I’m spoiled, so there you go. I also have a bunch of sheng tuocha’s (not mini) from China that I’m aging that are very juicy and yummy- so the form of the leaves is always indicator of quality.

I haven’t heard of people putting camphor flavor in artificially. Most of the time, I’ve come across it in bricks (disclaimer.. I am terrible at tasting camphor, but my husband is a fiend for it.. “zhang” flavor in Chinese). I think naturally it often comes from wild-picked leaves that are grown near cedars/pines and other evergreens.

While I’d agree that the form of the leaves is not always an indicator of quality, I think in the case of a mini tuocha specifically, if one is talking about sheng, it is unlikely that you’re looking at a high quality pu-erh. There’s just too much surface area to allow a sheng to age at a slow enough rate.

@ Amy – My husband’s stomach was hurting last night, too, so I made him shu pu’er with a healthy pinch of cinnamon bark and a dash of mint/spearmint. If you’re still feeling unwell, I recommend it.. it’s a nice grounding mix, and the mint helps lift things up and keep the shu from being too heavy to be helpful.

@Jim – Interesting thought about surface area / volume ratios for aging. What benefits do you get by having your shengs age very slowly? I feel actually the opposite. Not by artificially aging them or anything crazy. Many of my favorite bricks are loosely compacted, which actually allows more airflow and seems to help them age faster. It might explain why some of my three and four year old bricks are already drinkable, and taste more like they are 6-8 rs old. I also break up my bricks once I’m about a quarter through and keep them in jars or canisters (with a cloth between the lid and the body to allow airflow). This keeps it better protected than the wrappers when all those pointy edges are created, and also helps it age a tiny bit faster.
But then again, I’ve never been a huge fan of early, rambunctious sheng flavors (dryness and overly metallic were never my things)- I gravitate towards shengs that have mellowed. If you like the grassy astringency (my Japanese green fanatics do), then a slower aging would certainly be beneficial.

Hmm.. this aging discussion might need it’s own thread to keep from completely hijacking Amy’s own note! Amy- have you tried any shu’s from Garret at Mandala? I’ve found he prefers a maltier, breakfast pastry, sweet and caramelly kind of taste from his shu.. especially his old tea nuggets. You might like them if you’re not a fan of camphor.

As I always say, aging in your house and “aged” pu-erh which has undergone oxidation and fermentation are not the same thing. All I’m trying to say is that it seems unlikely that a tea which can oxidize and ferment very rapidly (because of a high surface area to volume ratio, like a mini tuocha) is going to result in a high quality product. The whole reason shu was developed was because it takes a long time to make good sheng. Maybe I’m completely wrong about all this, but as I understand the processing, speed is not something you want when producing sheng — regardless of how rapidly a consumer may want secondary aging to occur at home (which is more like keeping wine in your basement and has nothing to do with how long the wine was aged in the barrels at the vintner).